The field of the disclosure is the field of Internet Protocol (IP) based television, and more specifically a bandwidth efficient channel surfing mode and TV guide or interface thereof.
Conventional television broadcasting has been moved from analog broadcast to a digital broadcast, referred to digital TV, or “DTV,” as of Jun. 12, 2009. Furthermore, in community antenna television (CATV) systems, often referred to as “cable” television, digital channels are increasingly common for both standard and premium subscription packages. IP based television uses internet carrier. Analog and digital broadcast and CATV television suffers from bandwidth utilization inefficiencies since there must be enough bandwidth available in a given transmission medium to accommodate all channels at once, even though a user is only watching one channel. In contrast, IP based television services are more bandwidth efficient since only the selected channel or video content is streamed to the viewer. However, IP based services are subject to delays in content display when initialized due to bandwidth constraints. This is especially true for streaming larger files, high fidelity content, and when surfing channels by searching among them to find desired viewing content, often referred to as “channel surfing.”
Cable and satellite television service companies utilizing digital broadcast delivery provide end users with the same encoded content over the same set of channels at all times. Providers install a cable box that is programmed to “filter” channels and tune into them by decoding user selected channels in real time. Different decoders can be utilized for different channel packages to ensure end users only have access to the channels in the package they are paying for. This real time decoding is beneficial for cable providers but introduces a slight initial time delay when presenting content. However, real time decoding delays the display of content only by a minute amount that is rarely noted by users. Since content is broadcast at all times, even when the end user device is turned off, there is no perceived bothersome delay to the user upon turning the device on or when channel surfing.
In contrast, delay in providing requested video content is a significant user concern with IP based television and similar streamed video programming (such as NETFLIX, HULU, TV from mobile devices, and the like). Due to the multicast nature of IP television, a certain amount of required “buffer” time delays the video stream playback in addition to a minute real time decoding delay. To ensure a smooth continuous delivery of video content over an IP based infrastructure, the difference between what the available bandwidth can sustain for smooth playback and the bandwidth availability measure that the video was encoded for is downloaded prior to the start of video playback. Should bandwidth availability decrease during playback, the video is paused and additional buffering is required.
This buffering delay will always be required so long as the available bandwidth pipeline is not significantly larger (i.e., by several magnitudes larger) than what a typical TV channel requires in terms of download capacity. Buffering delays are annoying in general. For channel surfing, these buffering delays are not only annoying but also prohibitive from an end user perspective. Should a user decide not to watch the selected video content in full, he or she has just spent a certain amount of time waiting for content to load for nothing. He or she will have to wait again for a new channel to buffer before deciding if the new channel's content is the user desired video content.